Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #163
December 28th, 1998
The Opening Word:
Hope you all had a Merry Christmas, and will have a Happy New Year next
week.
Starrcade. Professional wrestling's original mega-event, predating
WrestleMania by a few years. First the NWA's, and then WCW's, showcase of
their greatest stars on their biggest. WCW's version of the Super Bowl.
Ernest Smiley vs. Prince Iaukea?
Brian Adams & Scott Norton vs. Fit Finlay & Jerry Flynn?
Eric Bischoff beats Ric Flair!?!
I was out of town over the weekend and saw very little wrestling, and the
PPV itself was completely out of mind. Coming home late Sunday I remembered
the show and checked up on the results. I honestly laughed aloud while
reading them. I didn't bother saying to myself "I'm glad I didn't get that
one!" because the thought to do so never even entered my mind. I've been
less than thrilled by the last few WWF PPV's, but WCW ... I just can't see
buying one of theirs now no matter what the card is. I can't even remember
the last time they had a PPV that most people liked and the results
suggested a positive booking scheme. Maybe last year's Starrcade (and even
that show had some big faults). Most recently we've seen WCW offer
celebrities badly wrestling in terrible matches, time overruns at two
PPV's, the debacle that was Hogan vs. Warrior II, and most recently the
very predictable and dull World War 3 flaunting of Kevin Nash's ego.
That's not really to say WCW has been delivering bad PPV's. What they have
been doing, though, is delivering boring PPV's. Or predictable PPV's. Or
a combination of both. What it boils down to is WCW has been delivering
PPV's not worth the $30 spent to watch them. They're delivering events
which aren't even as good as their free TV shows (and those usually aren't
anything to write home about). WCW just isn't giving their fans any reason
to buy these shows. All they can do is hype one or two big matches, and far
more often than not, these few marquee matches have not gone off the way
fans would have liked them too. Does WCW really think ANYONE wanted to see
Bischoff beat Flair? Or Hogan beat the Warrior at Halloween Havoc? Don't
even get me started on Jay Leno ...
Beyond these marquee matches WCW fills their PPV cards with essentially
the same stuff they put on free TV every week. One might understand this if
the TV product was all that compelling. The WWF, for example, has made
their TV shows so wild and unpredictable that it's made it hard for their
PPV's to top. That's why none of their PPV's over the course of the second
half of the year have been all that spectacular. They do generally manage
to deliver at least one big match, surprise, or overall "must see" moment,
though, which is why the WWF's fans still come back to these PPV's. WCW is
trying to do that, but whether it's a lack of originality or poor
execution or planning or whatever, WCW's "big" PPV moments just don't
stack up, and they certainly haven't amounted to something their fans want
to shell out $30 or more to see.
Don't just take my word for it, look at the numbers. Last December's
Starrcade racked up one of WCW's highest buyrates ever. The next few months
worth of PPV's rode off that wave. Then the buys started to shrink, with
the big celebrity guest shows Bash at the Beach and Road Wild doing far
less business than WCW expected and hoped for. From there the buyrates have
gone into an absolute freefall. World War 3 in November drew one of the
lowest buyrates for WCW in the last three years.
Will that turn around with Starrcade? That's hard to say, since WCW's made
it so abundantly clear lately that bad things will happen which the fans
won't like. Every show for the last six weeks has established that Bam Bam
Bigelow, Scott Hall, the NWO, or most anyone else can run in during a big
match, and the "fan friendly" outcome is probably the least likeliest to
happen. You can only screw over the "fan favorite" (and thus the fans) so
many times before it becomes necessary to give that fan favorite his
revenge. It's a simple formula, yet with this PPV WCW showed they had a
hard time understanding it. Ric Flair lost to Eric Bischoff--the one match
which was probably truly the biggest selling point of this show. Flair
getting his revenge was why people watched. It's why they paid $30 (or more
live in the arena) to see it. Nobody got what they wanted.
The main event featured Nash vs. Goldberg--a match-up which had the fans
split about 50/50 in terms of who they were going to root for, and with
Nash too cool to play the "bad guy", that left no one for the fans to root
AGAINST. This made the nature of the finish predictable, even if the actual
execution was still somewhat surprising. This match didn't follow the usual
formula, so the only ones who could possibly be happy were those fans of
whoever would win. WCW knew going in that they could, at best, only please
half their fans no matter what they did.
The only match which really "worked", and followed the formula, was Diamond
Dallas Page vs. the Giant. This was the night DDP was supposed to get his
revenge, and he did so. Predictable? A bit, but it was also a clear payoff
to a storyline, delivered what most have described as a good match, and
even managed to keep alive an ongoing storyline between DDP and Bret Hart.
If there was one bright spot about Starrcade, and WCW as a whole this past
year, it was the matches delivered by their Cruiserweights. No one can deny
that these guys are working hard and delivering great matches. On the other
hand no one can deny that WCW is also seriously close to throwing away this
talent by continually refusing to devote more time to them. As great as
these guys are they're lucky if they account for 30 minutes out of each 3
hour Nitro or PPV. Very recently their screen time has increased, but they
are still far short of being what one would consider the focus of the
promotion. It's almost as if WCW knows without these guys (Kidman, Eddie
Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Juventud Guerrero, and a few others), WCW would be
nothing. It's as if these guys are just there to garner some critical
praise from the "workrate" freaks.
Maybe I'm just being cynical.
Anyway, this has gone on a bit long, and what started out as a PPV musing
turned into a deeper year-end evaluation of WCW as a whole. Let's get to
tonight's shows.
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WCW Monday Nitro:
Live/Taped: Live.
Length: Three Hours.
Location: Baltimore, Maryland.
HOUR ONE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyszko.
- Post-PPV footage opens the show, giving us a look at Eric Bischoff, Curt
Hennig and Buff Bagwell having a chuckle over what they did to Ric
Flair.
- The opening hype segment is interrupted by the Eric Bischoff promo they
played on Nitro last week. Schiavone calls it "notorious". This is
followed by some still photos from the Flair/Bischoff match: stills
which manage to show next to nothing. Buy the replay to find out what
really happened.
- Nitro Party Video. Nitro Girls.
- Ernest Miller and Sonny Onoo come out, with Miller doing his usual bit
in the ring. Chris Jericho then comes out for no reason, with Ralphus
and Some Japanese Guy (called "Shamalamadingdong" by Jericho). Jericho
says he's picked this Some Japanese Guy as the karate expert who can
beat Miller.
- ERNEST MILLER (w/ Sonny Onoo) vs. SHIMA NOBUNAGA
Squash. Jericho, having done his allegedly humorous bit of the week,
just walks away.
Look, this is all happening because Jericho hasn't signed a new contract
with WCW. He has like four or six months left, but until he re-signs,
WCW is going to smother him. I have no problem with that. It's just
business. I understand it. That doesn't mean I have to like watching it,
though.
- Stills of Kevin Nash beating Goldberg, with the help of Scott Hall,
dressed as a security guard and zapping Goldberg with a cattle prod.
- They relive Ric Flair's collapse from two weeks ago. Sometime later
tonight (during RAW) we will hear from Flair's doctor.
- NORMAN SMILEY vs. CHAVO GUERRERO, JR.
Have you ever hated something, and the more other people like it, you
hate it even more? That sums up Norman Smiley for me. Fans are starting
to react to this guy and it's pissing me off.
In the match here Smiley does his Butt-Slap Dance (dubbed "The Big
Wiggle" by Larry Zbyszko) about a dozen times. Chavo dances with his
stick horse Pepe. In between the two combine for a lot of wrestling
which ranged from adequate to quite awful. Smiley has this amazing
quality of doing a nice move one moment, then f**king up a clothesline
or armbar the next. Smiley wins with the crossface chickenwing.
- A pretaped segment shows Raven's mother taking her son home. Kanyon is
along for the ride. Once in the opulent Levy Manor (Scott Levy is
Raven's real name, like anyone cares), Raven heads straight for the
booze. Kanyon holds him back. Raven then whines when he can't figure out
how to turn on the TV. Well, I almost laughed.
- FIT FINLAY vs. BOOKER T.
A missile drop-kick earns Booker T. the win, in a match which I actually
kinda liked. Nice, solid wrestling, with a clean finish.
- "Mean" Gene Okerlund brings out Ric Flair, who rips into an instant
classic of an interview. Flair says he got his ass kicked at the PPV,
and that his family and friends told him to hang it up. Almost heeding
their advice, Flair at the last moment decided that he can't live
without getting back at Bischoff. In regards to comments Bischoff made
about flair being broke, Flair rips off all his clothes, naming the
designers on the labels of each. He pulls out a wad of $100 bills and
starts tearing them up. He throws off his Rolex watch. He tosses his
leather loafers into the crowd. Then, stripped down to his boxer shorts,
he handcuffs himself to the ring rope, begging Bischoff to come out and
face him. Bischoff puts in his appearance and just like that a match is
made between the two for later in the show, with the stipulation being
that if Flair wins, he assumes control of WCW for 90 days.
The groan we hear is from the fans who paid $30 to see what is clearly
going to happen here the night before at the PPV. Great interview (which
included an unintentional moment almost too perfect for words: Flair
calls Bischoff a "jackass", which they try to bleep. He calls him a
"jackass" again, this time unbleeped. Then a fan in the crowd behind
Flair holds up a sign which says "Other Channel Jackass". Priceless!)
HOUR TWO Hosted By: Schiavone, Tenay and Zbyszko.
- BARRY WINDHAM vs. PRINCE IAUKEA
Let's see ... Windham has about a 100 pounds on him, a foot in height on
him, fifteen years of experience on him ... oh yeah, this is going to be
a competitive bout. Squash.
- "Mean" Gene interviews a security guy about the cattle prod Scott Hall
used to knock out Goldberg with. Okerlund goes to ridiculous lengths to
pound into our heads that no mortal man could have withstood this
electrical assault, and that Goldberg was completely helpless and unable
to prevent his loss. Just imagine Lois Lane interviewing a scientist to
explain how helpless kryptonite makes Superman. Same thing here.
- "Mean" Gene interviews Diamond Dallas Page, who says nothing of note
about anything in particular.
- Disco Inferno is in the back arguing with Konan. Kevin Nash and Lex
Luger then show up. Nash expresses his disappointment in Disco for
interfering during his match. He tells Disco if he really wants to be in
the Wolfpac, he has to win the match they'll set up for him tonight.
- KIDMAN/REY MYSTERIO, JR. vs. EDDIE GUERRERO/JUVENTUD GUERRERA
Another good match from this group, though you all know how interested I
am in these guys. Sorry to admit that I actually fast forwarded through
most of this watching the tape. I'll watch and appreciate it some other
time (maybe). The bad guys win this one, with some interference from
that bodyguard of Eddie's which WCW doesn't have the common courtesy of
telling us his name.
HOUR THREE Hosted By: Schiavone, Tenay and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan.
- Kevin Nash comes out and offers Goldberg a rematch ... next week. The
groan we IMAGINE we hear is from the fans who paid $30 to see these two
fight on PPV. The groan we ACTUALLY hear is from the crowd, pissed that
they aren't going to see that match tonight. In fact, the overall crowd
reaction here to Nash was weak, mostly because he was being a nice guy
in saying he didn't win the belt clean and wanted to give Goldberg the
rematch. Nash is supposed to be a cool, smart-assed rebel, not a "good
sport". Nash actually draws a boo when he said he has "nothing but
respect" for Goldberg.
- BAM BAM BIGELOW vs. DISCO INFERNO
Some token offense from Disco aside, Bigelow (who isn't even in WCW!)
easily destroys him. So much for Disco joining the Wolfpac. I'd call
this angle a joke, but jokes are supposed to be funny. This was just
pointless.
- Bischoff is in the back warming up for his match against Flair.
Something similar but much funnier plays over on the other show around
this time. Oh yeah, Curt Hennig was there with Bischoff.
- They play a tape or satellite hook-up or something of Flair's doctor
telling us what happened to him two weeks ago. It seems someone tried to
poison him. (Yes! At last I can feel better about Darren Drozdov trying
to kill Hawk by pushing him off the Titan-Tron. Nice of WCW to confirm
that an attempted murder angle is an acceptable form of "family
entertainment".)
- "Mean" Gene tries to get comments in the back from Eric Bischoff. It's
immediately clear (and was obvious from the start) that Bischoff is the
one who attempted to poison Flair.
- SCOTT STEINER (w/ Buff Bagwell) vs. KONAN
This one is pretty ugly all the way through to the finish. Lex Luger
comes out, stands around a lot, stands on the apron, and somehow winds
up causing Konan to lose the Television Title (Scott wins with the
Steiner Recliner). Steiner's push as a major heel continues, while the
"will Luger join the NWO?" angle continues. Meanwhile I laugh over
Konan's fate (hah!), and shed a tear over the fact that there's no way
for Chris Jericho to win this title back anytime soon.
- SCOTT HALL vs. BRIAN ADAMS (w/ Vincent)
Halls get the win with the Outsider's Edge, as his quest to regain his
self respect continues. (At least that what it says in the brochure.)
- RIC FLAIR vs. ERIC BISCHOFF
Bischoff has had a change of heart and tries to flee from the building.
making a break for his limo, he opens the door, only to be met by Four
Horsemen member Steve "Mongo" McMichael. Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit
also materialize, and the three Horsemen carry Bischoff to the ring.
After the break the match starts. Flair kills Bischoff, quickly causing
Vincent and Horace of the NWO to run out. The other Horsemen members
hold them off. Curt Hennig, Scott Steiner, Buff Bagwell and Scott Norton
all come out, but still the Horsemen hold them all off (how, I ask?) The
Giant is the one to finally hit the ring, and prepares to destroy Flair
with a chokeslam.
Suddenly Randy "Macho Man" Savage appears! He's accompanied by that
woman the Internet has heard all about but knows nothing about. Savage
has a new look, wearing his hair slicked back. He's also wearing an NWO
Black & White shirt and a pair of Konan's pants. Last we saw him he was
in the Wolfpac, but now he's apparently back in the NWO. He and the
Giant exchange friendly gestures. Savage then gives the Giant a low blow
and clotheslines him out of the ring--making a heel turn and
double-cross face turn all in the space of twenty seconds. Whatever,
Anyway, Flair then slaps the Figure Four on Bischoff, the referee,
having missed everything, wakes up. Bischoff submits. Flair now runs WCW
for the next 90 days. Everyone celebrates as the show ends.
- This Thursday: No Thunder. Preempted by movies.
- Next week: Nash vs. Goldberg.
Comments:
If I were still naming a winner each week I'd be tempted to give it to
Nitro for "historical" reasons. I didn't really like much here, though,
other than the Flair interview and the Finlay/Booker T. match. The
Cruiserweights too, I suppose. The main event was just too predictable an
outcome, so WCW threw about a hundred things at us to spice that up. In
particular the surprise return by Savage, which really tried to tell too
much of a story than can be sanely absorbed. Why was he wearing NWO colors?
Why did the Giant trust him? If we assume there was something going on
behind the scenes, and Savage had joined the NWO, then why did he turn on
them? What does he gain from this? The cynic in me says this was all just a
surprise for the sake of surprise (and ratings), and really served to keep
Bischoff from having to lose 100% cleanly to Flair. Bischoff now has one of
those Hogan-esque loopholes in which he can claim he should have never lost
because the match should have been thrown out.
Speaking of that, I understand the way wrestling works I understand that
wrestlers lose to other wrestlers, often because they will have the favor
returned somewhere down the road. I understand that sometimes a loss has to
come with circumstances that "protect" one wrestler or the other.
Goldberg's loss to Nash is an example of that. Some day, perhaps as soon as
next Monday, Nash will return the favor to Goldberg.
All that being said, where the hell did Bischoff ever get the idea that
Flair ever owed him anything in the ring? What happened here tonight is
what should have happened at the PPV. No, I take that back. What should
have happened is that Flair should have walked in, kicked Bischoff in the
nuts, busted him open with brass knux, then forced him to yell "I QUIT!"
with the Figure Four. Bischoff should have then passed out and slipped into
a coma. THAT'S what should have happened. Bischoff got in his part of this
long, drawn out story over the last four of five months. He's hit Flair. He
had him kicked out of and barred from arenas. He beat up his kid. He kissed
his wife. He poisoned him. Bischoff has given plenty of "offense", as it
were, throughout the course of this storyline. The match was Flair's chance
at revenge and any win, of any kind, for Bischoff was just plain wrong.
Making up for that the following night on free TV only rights a wrong that
should never have been committed in the first place. Bischoff was only an
"equal" and thus a worthy opponent of flair because of the power he wielded
outside the ring. Once they get into the ring, though, it should have been
all Flair. Giving Bischoff the win screwed Flair, the fans, fed Bischoff's
ego, and served as a $30 commercial for the following night's Nitro. I
can't say I'm personally outraged, because I didn't buy the PPV, but it's
hard not to realize that it stunk, and anyone out there upset at WCW over
this has every right to be so.
This week's show pretty much emphasized the things I said at the start of
the recap. There is one small sign of goodness in WCW in the performances
the Cruiserweights are delivering. Too bad it seems to happening despite
WCW's treatment of and attitude towards them not because of it. The whole
show was focused on playing out a scenario that should have been done the
night before between Flair and Bischoff. Even Kevin Nash's presence
tonight seemed like an afterthought.
And looming over all that is this cloud called "Hollywood" Hogan, which I
didn't address above.
WCW is working on a deal with NBC whereby they will air a couple of
specials on the major network. The first is tentatively scheduled to go up
against the WWF's February PPV. The catch to all this is NBC wants only WCW
biggest stars, i.e. Hogan. One rumored scenario already bouncing about is
that Goldberg will win the title back next week, and that Hogan will make a
return in time to face Goldberg for the title on the first NBC special.
This is just speculation, mind you, as nobody really knows anything right
now. Still, we may very well see WCW going back to looking something like
it did a few months ago, with Hogan back in charge of things.
Everything is in place for WCW to get really interesting and, dare I say
it, good. It could also go to hell really easily. If I were a big WCW I'd
be kind of nervous over the next two months.
By the way, the latest on the Giant is that he's all but agreed to a deal
with the WWF. The only way the Giant is staying now, it would seem, is if
all this talk of him jumping has been a major swerve on WCW's part to throw
off the fans, which I wouldn't rule that out. Most of the other guys who
have been talking about jumping however, including Jericho, have apparently
agreed to stay in WCW, though they have yet to sign new contracts. That
could change any day now, either way, I suppose.
Next week Nitro will be at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, the site of
Goldberg's World Title win over "Hollywood" Hogan.
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WWF RAW is WAR:
Live/Taped: Live.
Length: Two Hours+.
Location: Albany, New York.
WWF RAW Hosted By: Michael Cole and Jerry "The King" Lawler.
- Footage from last week opens the show.
- Vince McMahon is in discussion with the Corporation in the back. It
seems he's displeased with the job Shawn Michaels has been doing as
Commissioner of the WWF. In particular his handling of things last week
when Mankind wrestled McMahon's son Shane. McMahon says he's going to
fire Michaels when he shows up, and then maybe the Corporation will kick
his ass. The next order of business is Mankind. The Corporation enters
the boiler room of the arena and begins a search for the Deranged One. A
scuffle later and Mankind is subdued, with McMahon informing him that he
will get a shot at the Hardcore Title later in the show. Speaking of
which, Road Dogg, the Hardcore Champ, is on his way to the ring for a
match against Val Venis: a match signed by Commissioner Michaels.
- ROAD DOG vs. VAL VENIS
Not much of a match. The Corporation comes out just a few minutes in and
lays a beating on Venis. The rest of DeGeneration X come out to watch
the Dogg's back. McMahon informs the Dogg that he will have to defend
his belt later against Mankind. McMahon tells the other D-X members that
they will all get theirs too, as no one crosses the McMahon family. He
also makes the official announcement to the crowd that he will fire
Shawn Michaels later in the show.
As the King and Cole are running down tonight's matches they cut to the
back, where Al Snow--still drenched in blood from last week--is going
berserk. He chucks Head into a dumpster.
- McMahon is in the back telling Kane that he wants him to go after an
members of D-X he sees. McMahon's manner is less than kind, and it's
pretty clear that Kane's only gonna take so much before he snaps.
- AL SNOW vs. EDGE (w/ the Brood)
Nothing much happens in match #2 on the evening as Snow snaps, the two
trade some average moves, Snow gets knocked loopy when he's knocked off
the top onto a chair chest-first, Edge misses a legdrop off the top,
then Snow gets disqualified for hitting Edge with the Head. Bleah!
Gangrel, Christian, and the J.O.B. Squad members all run in. Snow clocks
Gill with the Head and runs away through the crowd. I'm really trying to
like Snow, but this stuff, which looked promising several weeks ago,
just isn't going anywhere.
Sable is in the back stretching.
- X-Pac is being visited by his pal Dennis Knight, formerly one of the
Godwinn pig farmers. Knight tells X-Pac that some "he" told him to come
tonight.
- SABLE vs. SPIDER LADY
As Sable hits the ring she encounters that mystery woman (Terri Powers)
who we saw several months back. She hands Sable a yellow rose and acts
like a giddy fan. Security hits the ring and escorts her away. As Spider
Lady enters we are reminded that the last time we saw her she was played
by the fabulous Moolah. This Spider Lady isn't Moolah, though, and is
fairly recognizable by the way she moves. After jumping her from behind
she starts whipping her with a belt, which causes the Oddities to come
out. No winner, because there was no official match. They try to
restrain Spider Lady and the mask comes off, revealing Luna. Luna says
this is all about her and what she deserves. George "the Animal" Steele
is now with the Oddities, in case you were interested.
- The Oddities are in the back looking over Sable.
- X-Pac vs. THE BIG BOSSMAN
This match is allowed to develop a bit more than the previous three.
The Bossman dominates, while X-Pac manages to rally back in his usual
role as the underdog. The match then comes to a halt when Test comes
out. He is immediately jumped from behind by Val Venis, who is upset at
the Corporation costing him his shot at the Hardcore Title. The match is
thrown out and officials are dispatched to break up the melee.
A video shows Vince McMahon working out for his participation in the
Royal Rumble, as Shane McMahon stands by and barks motivational
commands. Like him or not, Vince has a chiseled physique for a 50 year
old man (55, 60, 65, 70?) I seem to recall suggesting a few weeks ago
that they do something like this. Now they should have Vince wrestle a
jobber in a tune-up match. Then in the Rumble facing Austin he should go
down faster than Monica in the Oval Office.
- GOLDUST/STEVE BLACKMAN vs. OWEN HART/JEFF JARRETT (w/ Debra)
Some more average wrestling action here, with Blackman and Goldust
getting the win after a surprise appearance by Dan "the Beast" Severn.
Severn comes to the ring, which is a huge shock to Owen Hart, who was
the one who caused Severn's neck injury. Severn chases Owen around the
ring and, once back in, he is rolled up for the pin by Blackman.
Triple H and Chyna are prowling the halls. Michael Cole then starts
yelling about something going on outside, presumably so we won't be
tempted to switch over to Nitro.
- Faarooq and Bradshaw are stomping a mudhole in Dennis Knight. They stuff
him into the trunk of Knight's car, then drive off. Footage is shown
from during the commercial of the two Acolytes stopping the car, pulling
Knight out and slamming him into a garbage dumpster. Expect to see
Knight back in a week or so in black tights with symbols on his chest,
brainwashed into the Acolytes by their evil master, the Jackyl. Or so it
says in the brochure.
WWF WAR ZONE Hosted By: Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler.
- Triple H (w/ D-X) vs. KEN SHAMROCK (w/ the Corporation)
These two put forth an okay effort, but all as a part of tonight's
cavalcade of screwy finishes. Triple H wins when Shamrock applies an
anklelock and won't release it once Helmsley's reached the ropes. That
preludes another big D-X/Corporation brawl. Of note here is Kane's
participation. Kane is very slow to join in, and only does so after the
members of D-X have all but escaped.
- A Billy Gunn interview backstage is interrupted by Ken Shamrock. The
two call each other "punk".
- "Sexual Chocolate" Mark Henry and D-Lo Brown come out to the ring. Mark
starts off by apologizing to his "girlfriend" Chyna for what he did with
Terri Runnels and Jacqueline last week. He begs her to come back to him.
Terri and Jackie then come out. The two Pretty Mean Sistas (PMS) tell
Mark they have big plans for him. D-Lo tells them to back off and calls
them "glorified ring rats". He says he's too much a gentleman to do
anything to them. Chyna then comes out, says she's no gentleman, and
tells the two to leave her man alone! Terri tries to walk away, while
Jackie makes "ooh, I'm so scared!" gestures, which earns her a
chokeslam. Henry has a youknowwhateatinggrin, while D-Lo is even a bit
excited. Chyna tells Mark she'll see him later.
The Corporate team is backstage cooking up strategies.
- Shamrock, the Bossman, Test and Kane are prowling the back halls,
looking for people to beat up.
- They relay the Year in Review video they showed on Sunday Night Heat.
Good clipfest of 1998 highlights.
The previously seen Corporation members have stumbled across the
Godfather, and are stomping the crap out of him.
- "BAD ASS" BILLY GUNN vs. THE GODFATHER
No Godfather, as he's backstage drying out the mudhole stomped in him.
Shane McMahon comes out and announces Gunn's new opponent will be ...
- "BAD ASS" BILLY GUNN vs. CORPORATE KANE
Pat Patterson and Jerry Brisco are at ringside telling Kane what to do.
Ken Shamrock also comes out and slaps an anklelock on Gunn when
Patterson distracts the ref. Kane is then ordered to do a number of
chokeslams. X-Pac and Triple H come out to for the save, sparing Gunn a
third chokeslam. No winner.
- The Rock comes out to deliver color commentary for the main event. He
gets a surprisingly subdued reaction from the crowd.
- ROAD DOGG vs. MANKIND
The problem with programming fans is that it's tough to de-program them.
Road Dogg is stuck sneaking in "former" or "Hardcore" into his "TAGteam-
CHAMPIONSoftheWORLD!" schtick. The fans won't adjust, and keep saying
the old catchphrase.
Shawn Michaels has finally arrived. A look at his watch shows he's very,
very late.
As befitting a no DQ match for the Hardcore Title, this one went all
over the place and saw the use of several foreign objects, including
chairs, tables, a toolbox and a cookie sheet. Fighting their way through
the crowd they reach an equipment area, where a technician is
accidentally wiped out. Road Dogg is laid out and a table and Mankind
plants him through it with an elbow from the second level railing! The
Rock then comes over, checks his watch, counts down from five to one,
and nails Mankind with the Rock Bottom. Road Dogg rolls onto Mankind and
gets the pin. After they play the replay the Dogg, having seen it on the
Titan-Tron, says that's not how he wanted to win.
- Vince McMahon comes to the ring to call out Shawn Michaels. Once
Michaels is there McMahon berates him for his poor handling of the
Corporation. McMahon has clips played of Shawn holding them back last
week as Shawn was getting killed by Mankind. McMahon also has some old
clips played of Michaels saying he doesn't need McMahon (prior to
WrestleMania XIV). Shawn has a sheepish look like "did I say that?"
McMahon tells Shawn that he doesn't lay down for anybody, and fires
Shawn from his role as Commissioner. Shawn shrugs, then floor McMahon
with some Sweet Chin Music! His music Kicks in, Shawn tears his jacket
off, and does a humping motion over McMahon, as th rest of the
Corporation runs in. Shawn runs away through the crowd.
The show ran about two minutes longer than usual.
- Next week: Nothing announced.
Comments:
An off night, if you ask me, due mostly to the full slate of matches with
run-ins, screwy finishes, DQ's, or no finishes at all. We're also not
seeing much progress towards the Royal Rumble. D-X is getting a big push,
but no actual matches are being built. The undercard is pretty much on
cruise control too. Most of these guys will just be warm bodies in the
Rumble, so no big singles or tag matches are being developed. All we have
left are these lukewarm mini-feuds between the J.O.B. Squad and the Brood,
or the Owen Hart/Jeff Jarrett/Steve Blackman/Goldust group.
All this is noticeable because of what's missing at the top: Steve Austin.
Austin is still out with a torn muscle, and won't be back until just before
the Rumble. The absence of the Undertaker too leaves a void which is
currently being filled by the "when will Kane turn on the Corporation?"
watch.
All this doesn't spell ill for the WWF, as in the long term things seem to
be shaping up for a great WrestleMania. It's just that until then we have
to see what happens at the Rumble, then sit through that rather uneventful
month of filler in November. WCW is probably pretty smart to run their
special on NBC then, because the WWF may not be doing all that much at that
time.
The thing with Michaels being dumped as Commissioner seems to have
something to do with him possibly having surgery soon. Shawn is hopeful
that an operation will allow him to come back six months or so down the
road. So he's being phased out now to get that ball rolling.
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The Bottom Line:
I just watched the "Best of Nitro" special on TNT. Anyone tuning in to see
Nitro's best moments and matches were instead treated to three hours of
Hogan, Hogan, Hogan. All but two or three of the matches featured Hogan vs.
Flair, Savage, Luger, Sting, Goldberg and others. They talked about the
rise of the NWO, the evolution of Sting, the creation of the Wolfpac, and
the birth of the Goldberg juggernaut, but the overall focus was clearly
Hogan. Notably absent was any mention of Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit,
Booker T., Rey Mysterio, Jr., Billy Kidman, Raven, Saturn, Juventud
Guerrera, Eddie Guerrero, Ultimo Dragon, or any of the other
Cruiserweights and good workers.
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"Slobberknocker Central" and "Monday Night Recap" are copyright 1998 by
John Petrie, and all opinions expressed therein are his own, and not those
of "Internet Access, Inc". Check the "Slobberknocker Central" main page for
info on how to receive the "Recap" free via E-Mail every week.
Volume One, Number 163 of the "Monday Night Recap", December 28th, 1998.